ASEAN Meeting Opens to Hold All Regional Nations
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) opened Friday (July 23) its 32nd Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Singapore to embrace for the first time all 10 countries in the region.
Attending Friday's opening ceremony are Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, ASEAN Secretary-General Rodolfo Severino and foreign ministers from the ten ASEAN member countries.
This is the first time that all ten Southeast Asian countries are attending as full ASEAN members the AMM and subsequent related meetings. Cambodia is the newest member that joined ASEAN in April at a special ceremony in Hanoi.
ASEAN groups Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines and Laos.
During the two-day event, ASEAN foreign ministers are expected to utilize their first such gathering to discuss issues concerning the regional grouping's future and challenges.
Friday afternoon, the ministers will have an informal retreat to exchange views only among themselves, a move initiated by Singapore, ASEAN's rotating chairman, to actuate more realistic talks.
At the AMM, the ministers will review the progress in the implementation of the Hanoi Plan of Action (HPA), adopted at the ASEAN summit in Hanoi last December, said Severino Thursday.
The HPA is the first in a series of concrete plans mapped out to realize the Vision 2020, a long-term and broad blueprint for the region approved by ASEAN leaders in 1997.
The ministers will be preparing for this November's ASEAN summit in Manila, the Philippines, said Severino, adding that the summit will review the implementation of the HPA and issue further directives.
He said ASEAN foreign ministers will also meet with their dialogue partners to focus on how the two sides can cooperate in carrying out the projects detailed in the HPA.
ASEAN's role in the subsequent ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) will also be among the ministers' topics, said Singapore Foreign Minister Shunmugam Jayakumar Thursday night.
Jayakumar said he and his counterparts will discuss "how ASEAN can play and continue to play a pivotal role" in the ARF, a broader gathering bringing in Japan, Russia, the European Union, the United States and China, among others.
ASEAN's 10 dialogue partners, including China, Russia, the European Union and the United States, are part of the 22-member ARF and the following Post Ministerial Conference.
The AMM is an annual event responsible for the formulation of policy guidelines and coordination of ASEAN activities. The last AMM was held in Manila last July. (Xinhua)
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